Confused!!

[Firecat21]

I want to add a friction sway bar to my WD Reese hitch. It is about 15 years old and it came with the T-2251 I just purchased.
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It has the plate to the right of the ball where you can add the small sway bar ball. Im confused as to why the hole on the plate is oval and not round. It's not distorted from wear, it looks like if was cut that way originally.

Will this still work if its not a round hole?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I am confused because the friction sway bars that I see online have the extra plate for the ball if you need it and they are round holes.

Thanks
Al

[Gene]

Interesting, I have never seen one like that. Not a dumb question at all. I would think it would work.

Hopefully someone that knows will jump in here.

[Firecat21]

Thanks Gene, it is kind of strange. I'm assuming that piece was added on at some point, you can tell by the weld its not original.

Anyway, my concern is that the ball will stay put and the thing will function properly. I'd really like to avoid a modification at the welder if possible, but I will if necessary.

Like you said hopefully someone will chime in here (thats more mechanical than me.)

Thanks again,
Al

[jim44646]

You could have the ball welded on with out modification.

[JohnB]

I am taking a guess here, but it may not be off that far. The prior owner who had the tab welded on had a piece of bar that had a slot in it and used that verses drilling a hole. Nothing any more in depth than that.

If you use it for the mini ball, use a good heavy flat washer on top and bottom to help spread the load out around the slot. Ideally push the ball threads to the outer most ends of the slot one direction or the other and not in the middle. It may not make a lot of difference; however, it could add a small level of any slip.

As far as the weld, if the weld was done properly then all should be OK. However, that is an unknown right now and we cannot tell through the PC screen. If you have a buddy who is a welder, have him do an inspection, he will know what to look for.

Be careful when turn to the right. The arm will hit the A frame several degrees sooner than when you turn left. All the hitch heads with the arm have this issue. It is more common to turn harder left as it is on the driver side so they mount the single arm on the right side. Just a heads up to be cautious on this. Some time back up real slow and have a spotter check before it hits. Then look in the rear view mirror and memorize that image, when you get that close, stop…

Good luck

John